Loyalty! Nick Needs Nate’s Blessing For A McGregor Fight

Another Nick Diaz return is continuing to be teased, but it’s tough determining who it would possibly come against. Story-wise, a Conor McGregor match up is something both fanbases could easily get behind.

Diaz’s longtime coach, Cesar Gracie, recently shared that Diaz is aiming to return before 2022’s end. If he had it his way, Gracie would rekindle the Diaz versus McGregor rivalry with the eldest Diaz brother on the opposite side of McGregor in the Octagon. However, Nick’s willingness would likely depend on little brother Nate’s current fngs toward his own potential trilogy.

“Me and my personal point of view on that is that’s the fight I want to see,” Gracie told Submission Radio. “I would love to see Nick and McGregor fight, 100 percent because I think it would be insane, it would be great. I think they both have respect for each other, their skills and everything, I think it would be an amazing fight, I do. But, Nick is such a loyal guy to his brother, that he looks at that as Nate’s fight and he does not want to step on his toes. Now, if Nate turned to him and said, ‘Hey, look, I’m never going to fight that guy,’ type of thing then Nick would definitely do it. But I would like to see Nate fight him for sure.

“I think a trilogy makes sense and I think Nate leaving — then they’d have to pay him what he’s worth to come back — I think it’s a smart move,” he concluded.

Diaz last fought at UFC 266 in Sept. 2021, returning after six years out of action to rematch Robbie Lawler at Middleweight. The two first met in 2004 with Diaz winning via second round knockout. Unfortunately for Diaz, the result wasn’t the same all these years later, suffering a third round technical knockout defeat that left him winless since Oct. 2011 (watch highlights).

As for Nate, the final bout of his UFC contract is scheduled for UFC 279’s main event on Sept. 10, 2022, against Khamzat Chimaev.